For example, a mechanism has been developed in which a portable information terminal automatically downloads or automatically deletes an application program (hereinafter, referred to as an application) and various data such as office documents or images and videos, in response to an instruction from a server.
Such a mechanism is used even in a service that automatically delivers applications to the portable information terminal, depending on, for example, the situation (context) of the user of the portable information terminal. For example, in such a service, when the user enters a meeting room, meeting material is automatically distributed to the portable information terminal. Then, after the meeting has been completed and the user has left the meeting room, the meeting material is deleted from the portable information terminal. According to this mechanism, it is possible to inhibit the leakage of important information such as the meeting material in advance.
As a mechanism for deleting digital data, a recording and playback apparatus is disclosed which outputs a message screen and notifies the user of the message screen, when there is, for example, data that has been recorded but not yet played. As the related art, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2002-100158 and the like are disclosed.
However, the automatic deletion of an application does not involve the operation of the user of the portable information terminal. Therefore, when the application is automatically deleted while the user is not aware of the deletion, the user of the portable information terminal feels very anxious about whether or not the application has been deleted from his or her portable information terminal. Only displaying a message when the application is automatically deleted does not enable the user to fully realize that the application has been deleted and may not relieve the anxiety of the user. Moreover, the user may miss the display of the message.
The occurrence of such a problem is not limited to the automatic application delivery service. For example, the problem commonly occurs in a system in which the application of the portable information terminal is automatically deleted in response to an instruction from the outside such as a server. It is desirable for a user to fully realize the deletion of the application program.